Law School Diaries: Introducing Elle Woods

I'm pleased to introduce LSAT Blog's new law student columnist, "Elle Woods." She's a 1L at the University of Pennsylvania Law School (ranked 7th in this year's U.S. News rankings).

Each week, she'll be writing about her life in law school.

Please give her a warm welcome in the comments, and be sure to leave comments with your ideas and questions for her future columns.

(Read more Law School Diaries.)

Elle's 1st Law School Diary:

Have you ever heard that law school is like high school? Well, it totally is. I didn’t believe it at first, but it's true - the pre-set class schedules, the knowing everyone (and everyone’s business), down to the lockers we all shove our coats in every morning.  But don’t let all that fool you – it’s like high school on steroids, a completely different world than I experienced five years ago.  This high school comes fully equipped with an intimidating use of the Socratic Method, incessant g-chatting during class, events with free booze and food nearly every day, and outlines galore.

But before we get to all of that, let me introduce myself.  I’m a 1L at Penn Law and very much the typical law student (or at least I like to think so). I’m definitely not the “popular girl” at law school, but I have an awesome group of friends and am pretty cordial with just about everyone (you kind of have to be, this is high school, remember?) I’m fresh out of undergrad, so I still enjoy going out with friends and exploring Philly nightlife.  Philly is also a huge foodie city, so my friends and I love to try out different restaurants and cafes.

I grew up in a very stereotypical South-Asian family and was prodded towards medicine or some other science-related field.  I, however, always knew I wanted to go to law school. My dream school for undergrad was Georgetown, particularly the School of Foreign Service.  After I got in, my dad (in typical Indian-parent fashion) encouraged me to apply to a state school for a “better-value” education.  Let’s just say I didn’t end up at Georgetown.

Even though I went to my state school initially kicking and screaming, I really loved it, and it was definitely the ultimate college experience.  I ended up with degrees in Finance and Political Science, both of which were pretty unexpected. I was the captain of a huge dance team on campus and probably spent more time doing that than actually studying.   I spent each summer during undergrad working at an investment bank on Wall Street, and realized that I am totally a New York girl at heart.  I’ve also spent time doing different types of research work, ranging from global human rights work to microbiology research in India.

So, back to law school.  Penn is known to be the “collegiate” law school, and it totally is.  After coming to Penn, I realized how spoiled I was during undergrad.  Here, I not only go to class, but I have to pay attention and actually take notes (God forbid!), and I still often end up only half-understanding what the professor is talking about.  But despite all of that, Penn feels like a great, big family.  People are rarely hesitant to share outlines or notes, everyone is friendly and sociable, and people seem to genuinely care.

The legal profession, in general, is one that very much revolves around socializing (aka drinking), and law school is definitely great practice for that. There’s some sort of symposium or conference with an open bar at least once a week.  Not to mention, 1:30 each afternoon is the optimal time to scour the school for leftover catered food from some event or another.  Law schools also love throwing happy hours, networking events, and parties, and Penn is definitely no exception. This is, of course, coupled with the usual array of lectures, career-planning seminars, debates, etc. There are way more events than I can ever keep track of, which has led me to hibernate this semester and avoid said events out of sheer intimidation.

With April just around the corner, it’s both nauseating and exciting.  I am five weeks away from being done with my 1L year of law school, but not before first going through the torture that is finals.   They say that 1L year is the hardest, so here’s to hoping that that’s the truth.

Long story short: law school is officially the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I absolutely love it.